Realism

O'Neill's first plays were melodramas. He soon rejected the flat characterizations and unmotivated violent action typical of melodrama, and instead he adopted the tenets of realism, a new literary movement that took a serious look at believable characters and their sometimes problematic interactions with society. O'Neill began to use settings and props that reflect his characters' daily lives and to write realistic dialogue that replicates natural speech patterns.

O'Neill's new type of realism rejects traditional forms and digs beneath the surface of everyday reality. In Anna Christie, O'Neill incorporates realistic depictions of men at sea and of the interactions between family members. The play explores the tensions that can arise between family members as a result of feelings of abandonment and guilt. It also illuminates the harsh reality of women's lives in the early part of the twentieth century. O'Neill creates in the play a lyrical realism in...